Rhubarb!

Rhubarb
– vegetable or fruit? I can’t tell
you how many times a season I get asked this very question. Another thing I’m always
surprised at is how many visitors have never seen nor tasted rhubarb. So I decided to do a little research
and with the help of the internet I found the following facts that I thought
might be of interest:

First
let me answer the age old question – Rhubarb is indeed a vegetable however for
centuries has been prepared mainly like fruit in pies, desserts, jams,
etc. However in the last ten or
fifteen years rhubarb has successfully found its way into restaurants to
accompany savory dishes.

Rhubarb
has been used in China for medicinal purposes since 2700 BC. The particular root from China is not
easily grown outside of China but other varieties have been successfully
propagated around the world.
Health benefits include low in carbohydrates, high fiber, vitamin C and potassium. The only edible part of the plant is
the reddish/green stalk. The
leaves are toxic. If you are lucky
enough to live in a favorable climate and grow rhubarb just be sure to break
off the seed pods when they first appear in early spring and then cover the plant
with steer manure in late fall.

Rhubarb found
its way to America in the late 1700s (reportedly by Benjamin Franklin) and
Russians are credited with having brought rhubarb to Alaska in the late 1800s
for the purpose of fighting scurvy.
By the 1900s rhubarb was entrenched in kitchens in most northern
climates. It is difficult to grow
in a hot climate. It nearly grows
wild in Alaska.

Some will say
that a rhubarb plant will produce edible stems for up to 15 years. Well I can attest that I have had my
rhubarb plants for well over 40 years.
I’ve served it at the B&B for 26 years with the majority of guests
enjoying it very much. However, there’s
always one or two each summer that don’t care for the tartness.

I wish I could
take credit for the following recipes however the Rhubarb-Cherry Pie came from
a dear friend in Fairbanks and I am not sure where she got it from. The “Big Crumb Rhubarb Coffee Cake”
came from smittenkitchen.com and has been a favorite at
the House of Jade ever since I found it on-line. I would have never thought to marry ginger with rhubarb but
it’s really a nice combination.
Just as a side note, my husband, Yves doesn’t care for rhubarb but he
really loves this coffeecake and says it’s as good as the best French pastries
(which he dearly loves). I hope
you’ll enjoy it also.

2. To make crumbs [this step now updated, see comment #150] in a large bowl,
whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth. Then, add flour
with a spatula or wooden spoon. It will look and feel like solid dough. Leave
it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.

3. To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg
yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together
flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of
sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase
speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches,
beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl
with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.

4. Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter.
Dollop set-aside batter over rhubarb; it does not have to be even.5. Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch
to 3/4 inch in size. They do not have to be uniform, but make sure most are
around that size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into
center comes out clean of batter (it might be moist from rhubarb), 45 to 55
minutes. Cool completely before serving.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings.